System and method for voice and data convergence

ABSTRACT

The method and apparatus is for converting messages and responses between text messages of a user and voice responses of at least one agent in an automatic contact distribution system having a plurality of agents. In one embodiment, the method includes sending a text message in a text format from first location via a network; receiving the text message from the network at a second location; and converting the text message from a text format to a voice message in a voice format. The method further includes converting a voice response in the voice format from an agent to a text response in the text format, the voice response being in response to the text message; and sending the text response from the second location to the first location via the network. Thus, the user appears to communicate with the agent on a text basis, and the agent appears to communicate with the user on a voice basis.

FIELD OF THE INVENTION

The field of the invention relates to communication systems and, inparticular, to communication systems having automatic contactdistributors.

BACKGROUND

Automatic contact distribution systems are known. Such systems aretypically used, for example, as a means of distributing customercontacts such as telephone calls among a group of agents. Automaticcontact distributors, also know as automatic call distributors, may be,but are not limited to, hardware and/or software systems with manypossible configurations including distributed systems, integratedsystems, systems based on one or more personal computers or servers, andthe like.

Often an organization disseminates a single telephone number to itscustomers and to the public in general as a means of contacting theorganization. The term “calls” refers not only to conventional telephonecalls, but also to any customer contacts including but not limited tofacsimile, e-mail, Internet communications such as web chat and VoIP(Voice Over Internet Protocol). As calls are directed to theorganization from the public switch telephone network or othercommunication system, the automatic call distribution system directs thecalls to its agents based upon some type of criteria. For example, whereall agents are considered equal, the automatic call distributor maydistribute the calls based upon which agent has been idle the longest.The agents that are operatively connected to the automatic calldistributor may be live agents, and/or virtual agents. Typically,virtual agents are, for example, software routines and algorithms thatare operatively connected and/or part of the automatic call distributor.

Automatic call distributors are often utilized in communicationshandling centers, such as telephone call centers, that forward incomingcommunications for processing by one of several associated call-handlingagents. Such communications centers may be used to forwardvoice-over-internet protocol communications; electronic mail messages;facsimiles or the like, to associated handling agents.

Call centers, for example, are often used to dispatch emergencyservices, as telemarketing sales centers, as customer service centers,etc. to automatically distribute received calls. Each incoming call mayhave a number of handling requirements, depending on, for example, thenature of the call, the originating call area, and the language of thecall. Agents, on the other hand, each have abilities to process callshaving certain handling requirements. Typically, agents are able toprocess one or more call types. For example, agents may be trained toprocess certain call subject matters and certain call languages.

In known call centers, computerized automatic call distributors placeincoming telephone calls, of a particular type, requiring definedskills, in queues of like calls. Appropriate agents have skillsnecessary to process calls in the queues, and are assigned to suchqueues. Agents are often assigned to multiple queues, reflective oftheir particular handling skills. Typically, this is done to increasethe handling capacity of the center by making improved use of availablecommunications handling resources.

Quite often, agents may handle calls related to one or more subjectareas, and possess varied attributes that are relevant to all subjectareas they are capable of handling. For example, a telephone call centeragent may speak multiple languages, and may therefore be able to processtelephone calls relating to a particular subject matter in all theselanguages. One simple approach used to deal with multiple agentattributes is to create and administer individual queues, each of whichtakes into account the subject matter and the attributes of the agent.This, however, is administratively very cumbersome.

Other known call centers use agent-skill indicators, associated withagents in order to connect calls. In such centers, a call is connectedto an agent having an agent-skill indicator matching that of the call,within a group of agents. Agents, however, are typically only assignableto only one, and typically only a single agent-skill indicator is usedto connect the call. Disadvantageously, such call centers do not useagent attributes across different groups. This may lead to aninefficient utilization of call center resources. Moreover, thesecommunications handling centers do not allow for easy administration andre-assignment of agents to queues, while maintaining agent skill-sets.

One concern in designing an automatic call distributor system isensuring that calls are efficiently routed to an agent, so as tominimize the amount of time that any particular call waits to behandled. One basic technique of minimizing on-hold time is to employ afirstin/first-out call handling technique. The first-in/first-outtechnique requires that calls be routed to the next available agent inthe order in which the calls are received. However, in some automaticcall distributor systems the agents are specialized in handlingparticular types of calls, so the first-in/first-out technique is notappropriate. For example in a product support department of a softwarefacility, agents might be grouped according to specialized expertise, sothat a first group is knowledgeable in word processing, a second groupis knowledgeable in a database program, and a third group isknowledgeable in a spreadsheet program. Utilizing a first-in/first-outtechnique in such a situation is inappropriate, because a caller with aquestion regarding the word processing program may be routed to an agenthaving specialized knowledge regarding the database program or thespreadsheet program, rather than being routed to an agent withspecialized knowledge in the word processing program.

The focus in the management of calls has been upon maximizingavailability to customers, so as to achieve an acceptable profit marginin a competitive environment of customer service. Call managementapproaches that increase revenue may lead to savings for customers.

Most present-day call-distribution algorithms focus on being “fair” tocallers and to agents. This fairness is reflected by the standardfirst-in, first-out call to most-idle-agent assignment algorithm.Skills-based routing improves upon this basic algorithm in that itallows each agent to be slotted into a number of categories based on theagent's skill types and levels.

There are times when it is not convenient for a user to speak with anagent. For example, a user may be in a meeting where he or she cannoteasily place a voice phone call. Users are then forced to use a textdevice to communicate with the agent if a voice session was not desired.In this case, the user can establish a wireless connection using, forexample, a PDA or equivalent device, and a connection would then be madeinto a web-based connection or web session. However, for communicationwith an agent, the agent must read the text, and reply by typing aresponse. Because a text session is created, it necessarily has theassociated data delays and response time delays inherent in textsessions.

Thus there is a need in the prior art for a “pseudo-real-time”connection to be established between the user or caller and the agenteven though a true real-time connection cannot be established.

SUMMARY

One embodiment of the present invention is a method for convertingmessages and responses between text messages of a user and voiceresponses of at least one agent. The method includes sending a textmessage in a text format from a first location via a network, receivingthe text message from the network at a second location and convertingthe text message from a text format to a voice message in a voiceformat. The method further includes converting a voice response in thevoice format from an agent to a text response in the text format, thevoice response being in response to the text message; and sending thetext response from the second location to the first location via thenetwork. As a result, the user appears to communicate with the agent ona text basis, and the agent appears to communicate with the user on avoice basis.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The features of the present invention, which are believed to be novel,are set forth with particularity in the appended claims. The inventionmay best be understood by reference to the following description takenin conjunction with the accompanying drawings, in the several figures ofwhich like reference numerals identify like elements.

FIG. 1A is a schematic illustration of an example of a communicationsarchitecture that may be used to link a remote terminal on apacket-switched network and a user operating a mobile wirelesscommunications device such as a laptop computer equipped with a cellulartelephone modem, and in particular showing the relationship between thehome agent, authentication server, a plurality of network access serversfunctioning as InterWorking Units that link the wireless communicationsnetwork to an IP LAN and packet switched network, and Signaling System 7network;

FIG. 1 is a general block diagram of one embodiment of a communicationsystem.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of an embodiment of an interwork routingcontrol system between a telephone network and the Internet.

FIG. 2 is a depiction of the databases stored in memory of an embodimentof the present invention.

FIG. 3 is another block diagram showing more detail of an embodiment ofthe present invention.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting one embodiment of a method ofutilizing agents.

FIG. 5 is a block diagram depicting different modules in one embodimentof an exemplary call center system for utilizing agents.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

While the present invention is susceptible of embodiments in variousforms, there is shown in the drawings and will hereinafter be descriedsome exemplary and non-limiting embodiments, with the understanding thatthe present disclosure is to be considered an exemplification of theinvention and is not intended to limit the invention to the specificembodiments illustrated. In this disclosure, the use of the disjunctiveis intended to include the conjunctive. The use of the definite articleor indefinite article is not intended to indicate cardinality. Inparticular, a reference to “the” object, “a” object or “an” object isintended to denote also one of a possible plurality of such objects.

The present system may be utilized in various network environments, aswell as, systems such as automatic call distribution systems (ACD).

In some embodiments ITU-T Recommendation H.323 may be utilized as aprotocol for call control in an interconnection network having networkcommunication protocol like LAN, WAN or the Internet based on the IPnetworking technique. H.323 includes Q.931 protocol which is used as acall control signaling for establishing and releasing calls amongterminal equipment and gateways in the internet, where the gateway is anequipment which interconnects between a call in the circuit switchednetwork such as telephone networks, integrated services digital networksand mobile communication networks and a call in the internet. Thenetwork architecture in the H.323 includes a gatekeeper, which performsfunctions of address translation, access control, bandwidth management,etc. The gatekeeper may have additional functions relating to the callcontrol such as a conference call control.

In many cases, a public switched telephone network is constructed asIntelligent Network (IN) in order to provide enhanced and diversifiednetwork service. The IN is a network connection architecture recommendedin Q.1200 series of ITU-T. Difference between conventional network andthe IN are two points of independence and integration of the servicecontrol function from the switching equipment.

An aim of the conventional telephone switching system is to efficientlyprovide one to one communication services. However, in order to providethe service control function to each switching equipment, complexaddition and modification on the function are required. Therefore,advancing of services is somewhat limited. The IN solves this problem byconstructing a layered structure such that the switching equipmentexecutes a basic call connection function and a dedicated informationprocessing equipment executes a function for providing complex services.According to the IN, a service control function needed for realization,maintenance and operation of the network services is integrated andcontrolling, monitoring and managing of the call control part areperformed so as to meet an introduction of advanced network services.Additional services such as freephone service, abbreviated dialingservice, virtual private network service and transfer service arerealized with the IN technique.

In a PBX and a private communication network composed mainly withdedicated line, these additional services are realized by adding aservice control function to a server equipment connected to the PBX.

When a call from an information terminal C1 of the internet to atelephone terminal T1 of the telephone network arrive, the informationterminal C1 inquires to the gatekeeper and the gatekeeper responds byretrieving a gateway address AG1 for the called telephone number NT1.Therefore, the gatekeeper has an address table to take thecorrespondence between the telephone number and the address of thegateway used to connect to the telephone number. The routing control canbe thus performed by selecting the address of nearest gateway dependingupon the called telephone number informed from the calling informationterminal.

Wireless communications networks offer much flexibility to the user, inthat they allow users of portable communications devices, such aspersonal digital assistants, laptop computers, telephones, and otherappliances to get connected to the public switched telephone networkfrom any location within the region served by the wireless network.Personal communication systems are known by which a user uses an RF linkto communicate with an intelligent base station, Intelligent basestations provide radio access along with an Integrated Services DigitalNetwork (ISDN) interface to the public switched telephone network(PSTN). The PSTN aspect of the system may have three components: apersonal communications switching center, where telephone central officeswitches have certain characteristics, a signaling transfer point, and aservice control point where an intelligent data base exists maintainingcertain user features and records.

Systems are also known by which a wireless communications device such aslaptop computer with a cellular modem may access a packet-switched(e.g., IP) data network such as a corporate backbone network or theInternet. In some systems, a frame relay line connected to the wirelessnetwork couples the remote wireless user to the packet-switched networkvia an all-digital network access server. This type of network accessserver is occasionally known in the art as an InterWorking Unit (IWU).The network access server provides an interface to the frame relay lineand wireless network and an interface (including router functionality)to the packet switched network.

The mobile device typically dial into the IP network through a networkaccess server or otherwise register with an InterWorking Unit or gatewayrouter/home agent in order to gain access to the IP network andcommunicate with a remote terminal on the network.

FIG. 2A is a schematic diagram of an interwork routing control systembetween a telephone network and the Internet. FIG. 1A is a schematicillustration of the communications architecture that may be used to linka remote terminal on a packet-switched network and a user operating amobile wireless communications device such as a laptop computer equippedwith a cellular telephone modem, and in particular showing therelationship between the home agent, authentication server, a pluralityof network access servers functioning as InterWorking Units that linkthe wireless communications network to an IP LAN and packet switchednetwork, and Signaling System 7 network.

FIG. 2A depicts a call control part 11 for performing only basicconnection of a circuit such as a digital switching system, a servicecontrol part 12 for directing the service to the call control part 11,and a service control information database 13 for storing servicecontrol information are illustrated.

A routing control communication system in the example of FIG. 2A isconnected between a telephone network and the Internet. In addition tothe IN facility on the telephone network, a telephone terminal T1provided with telephone number NT1 and a telephone terminal T2 providedwith telephone number NT2 are depicted. A service control informationdatabase 131 and interworking equipment 132 are both shown as in aservice database equipment 13. In the Internet 15, a gatekeeper 17 isprovided with address AK, an information terminal C1 is provided with anaddress AC1 and an information terminal C2 is provided with an addressAC2. Moreover, for connecting a telephone network and the Internet, agateway 1 having a telephone number NG1 and an address AG1, and agateway 2 having a telephone number NG2 and an address AG2 are shown.

Referring now to FIG. 1A, a situation may occur in which a user, forexample, a person operating a personal computer 10 on a corporatebackbone network 12 (e.g. Ethernet), may wish to exchange information ordata with one or more users of mobile wireless communications devices,such as the users operating laptop computer 14 or laptop computer 16.Similarly, the user of computer 24 may want to communicate with usersoperating laptop computer 14 or laptop computer 16. However, the usersof the laptop computers 14 and 16, may desire to only communicate viatext messages. For example, these users may be in a meeting or aconference where they cannot carry on a voice communication. Instead ofthe laptops 14 and 16 the users may only have text capable devices.

The wireless communications device 14 of the example of FIG. 1A is asubscriber to a wireless communications network 40. If the device 14 isauthenticated and authorized to receive the IP packet (i.e., is acurrent, paid up subscriber to the wireless network 40 service), asearch is performed with a location server for an existing mobile IPaddress for routing the IP packet to the device. If the searchingresults in a negative outcome, the device 14 is paged via the wirelesscommunications network 40. When the device 14 responds to the page, thedevice becomes connected to the IP network 20/12 via a network accessserver or InterWorking Unit (e.g., 30) coupling the wirelesscommunications network 40 to the IP network 20/12. Thus connected, thedevice 14 may receive the IP packet and initiate communication via theIP network 20/12 with the source of the IP packet, remote terminal 10.

The backbone network 12 of the example of FIG. 1A comprises an IP localarea network (such as an Ethernet network), which is coupled by an IProuter 18 to a wide area IP network 20 such as the Internet. When the PC10 destined for the laptop computer 14 generates an IP packet, the IPprotocol requires a destination address field in the packetcorresponding to the device 14. This address field will result in thecall being forwarded over the IP network 20 to a home agent 22 for thedevice 14. The home agent 22 comprises a gateway/router, which may be arouter on the IP network 20, which acts as mechanism for coordinatingthe receipt and transmission of communication sessions for the device 14from multiple remote terminals, such as terminals 10 or 24. The homeagent 22 also performs these functions for a plurality of mobilewireless communications devices, such as laptop computers 14 and 16.

The network access servers 30, 30A may be coupled as shown in theexample of FIG. 1A to a frame relay line 42 which is linked to awireless base station 44 via a Central Base Station Controller (CBSC).Known and conventional additional equipment in the wireless network 40,such as mobile switching centers, may be present but are omitted fromthe illustration. The CBSCs multiplex a plurality of channels frommultiple wireless devices on the frame relay line for transmission tothe network access servers 30 and 30A. The wireless base stationstransmits and receives data to and from the wireless devices via radiofrequency links 46 to a radio tower 48 and radio frequency links fromthe tower 48 to the devices 14 and 16. The particular manner and detailsby which the wireless system 40 operates may be in any known manner.

The CBSC of FIG. 1A is maintained and operated by the provider of thewireless communication service for the mobile nodes 14 and 16. The CBSCmultiplexes a plurality of calls (e.g., twenty three) onto an IntegratedServices Digital Network Primary Rate Interface (ISDN PRI) TI line anddirects the data to the network access server 30. The CBSC alsoinitiates a page of the mobile node 14, 16 over the wireless network 40using a mobile switching center, base station 44 and a radio tower 48.The connection between the CBSC and the network access server 30 couldalso use some other technology such as Asynchronous Transfer Mode (ATM).

The SS7 network agent 34 is a known device, which is connected to theSS7 network on one side and the LAN on the other side. It maps messagesreceived from the LAN side into SS7 messages to deliver to SS7 networkelements, for example, a signaling transfer point, network control pointor signal control point. The SS7 network has the ability much like aRADIUS server. It can authenticate using various attributes received inSS7 signaling message to access a database and authenticate a user toaccess the network. It can also deliver SS7 signaling messages to thehome agent 22 on the LAN. The SS7 agent 34 thus allows the SS7 networkto control a data network in addition to its current role, i.e., ofcontrolling access to the worldwide public switched telephone network.

FIG. 1 is a block diagram of a specific embodiment of a telephone systemhaving an automatic call distributor 109 that is part of a privatebranch exchange 108 in a call center 106. Calls may be connected betweencallers 101, 102, 103 via a network 105 to an automatic call distributor109. The automatic call distributor 109 may distribute the calls totelemarketers or agents, such as virtual agent 110, or live agent 112.The network 105 may be any appropriate communication system network suchas a public switch telephone network, cellular telephone network,satellite network, land mobile radio network, the Internet, etc.Similarly, the automatic call distributor 109 may be a stand-alone unit,or may be integrated in a host computer, distributed among multiplecomputers, etc. The illustrated embodiment may be implemented under anyof number of different formats. For example, where implemented inconnection with a public switch telephone network, a satellite network,a cellular or land mobile radio network, the illustrated embodiment ofFIG. 1 may operate within a host computer associated with the automaticcall distributor and may receive voice information (such as pulse codemodulation data) from a switched circuit connection which carries avoice between the callers 101, 102, 103 and the agents 110, 112.

An alternative embodiment, which may be implemented, for example, inconnection with the Internet, may operate from within a server. Voiceinformation may be carried between the agents 110, 112 and callers 101,102, 103 using packets.

As shown in the embodiment of FIG. 1, a caller, such as caller 101, mayplace a call to the call center 106. In this embodiment the caller 101sends a text message that is routed via the communication network 105 tothe call center 106, in a conventional manner. The text message in theillustrated embodiment may be routed within the call center 106 to theprivate branch exchange 108 that has the automatic call distributor 109.The private branch exchange switch 108 and the automatic calldistributor 109 may comprise conventional hardware and software, asmodified herein to carry out the desired functions and operations.

Generally, the private branch exchange switch 108 and the automatic calldistributor 109 of the embodiment of FIG. 1 form a switching systemdesigned to receive calls and text messages destined for the call center106, and queue them when an appropriate agent is not available. Inaddition, the automatic call distributor 109 distributes calls and textmessages to agents or specific groups of agents according to aprearranged scheme. The automatic call distributor 109 may be integratedwith the private branch exchange 108, as in the illustrative embodimentshown in FIG. 1, or provided by a separate unit.

The telephone network 105, in the illustrated embodiment of FIG. 1 mayinclude the combination of local and long distance wire or wirelessfacilities and switches known as the public switched telephone network,as well as cellular network systems and the telephony feature of theInternet. The telephone network 105 may be utilized to complete calls,for example, between (i) a caller at a station set, such as callers 101,102, 103, and the call center 106; (ii) a caller on hold and a thirdparty; and (iii) a caller on hold and a shared-revenue telephoneservice, such as a 900 or 976 service, provided by content provider. Asis well known, shared-revenue telephone services deliver a particularservice over the telephone and subsequently bill the caller. Thetelephone number from which a call is made typically identifies thecaller. A subsequent bill is then included as part of the caller'sregular telephone bill.

The Internet network, as used herein, includes the World Wide Web (the“Web”) and other systems for storing and retrieving information usingthe Internet or other computer network. To view a web site, the usercommunicates an electronic Web address, referred to as a UniformResource Locator (“URL”), associated with the web site. It is noted thatif the caller accesses the call center 100 from a conventionaltelephone, the textual portions of a premium web site may be convertedto speech for presentation to the caller.

Present embodiments permit a user to establish a web connection eventhough he or she may not be using a web-type of device. This permits a“pseudo-real-time” connection to be established between the caller andthe agent even though a true real-time connection cannot be established,thus providing the caller with a connection having the “feel” of a voicesession without actually establishing a voice session. Accordingly, ahigh bandwidth voice path need not be established, thus saving valuablesystem resources.

The system, for example the automatic call distributor 109 (depicted inFIG. 1), typically may have a memory 220 as depicted in FIG. 2. Thememory 220 may have a plugin database 200, which may have plug-ins, suchas the text/voice conversion plugin 202, as well as other plug-ins suchas, agent-to-agent collaboration 204, mentoring 206, and monitoring 208.The memory 220 also has a database of agents that are logged onto thesystem and is referred to as a database of logged-on agents 210.Furthermore, there is a database 212 of current agent assigned plug-ins.

In another embodiment depicted in FIG. 3, an automatic call distributor306 connects one of the callers 301, 302, 303 via the network 305 to oneof the agents 314, 316. The automatic call distributor 306 keeps trackof the logged-on agents by the logged-on agents database 310. Initially,or periodically, or on an ongoing basis, agents may be assigned to thevarious plug-ins. This information may be stored in a currently assignedplug-in to agent database 312. In one embodiment, when one of the agents314, 316 becomes available, that is, when the agent is not connectedwith a caller, the automatic call distributor 306 then accesses theplug-in database 308 and enables one of the pre-configured appropriateplugs-ins for this agent. For example, this agent may be handicapped andneeds to use the format conversion plug-in 202.

The various embodiments permit a voice or data contact to establish anIP web connection so that direct agent contact can be made. In oneaspect, this may be used when it is not convenient for a user to speak.For example, a user may be in a meeting where he or she cannot easilyplace a voice phone call. In that case, the user can establish awireless connection using, for example, a PDA or equivalent device, anda connection would then be made into a web-based connection or websession. A synthesizer would then automatically convert the user's typedtext to speech, and the voice dialog would then be presented to anagent, for example, over the IP connection. No actual voice channel needbe established, thus valuable system resources are conserved. On theagent side, the verbal response of the agent would be converted to textby a speech recognition unit and the resultant text would be transmittedback to the user's PDA for textual display. In this way, the userexperiences the speed and “feel” of a voice call when corresponding withthe agent even though he or she cannot use voice as the communicationmedium.

In very general terms the method is for converting messages andresponses between text messages of a user and voice responses of anagent. The method has the steps of: sending a text message in a textformat from first location via a network; receiving the text messagefrom the network at a second location; converting the text message froma text format to a voice message in a voice format; converting a voiceresponse in the voice format from an agent to a text response in thetext format, the voice response being in response to the text message;and sending the text response from the second location to the firstlocation via the network; wherein the user appears to communicate withthe agent on a text basis, and wherein the agent appears to communicatewith the user on a voice basis.

FIG. 4 is a flow diagram depicting one embodiment of a method ofutilizing agents in which plug-ins are initially provided that implementat least one predetermined function in the call distribution system, orother communication systems as illustrated at step 400. Thereafter, theplug-ins are assigned to various agents in step 402. In step 404, thesystem keeps track of which agents are logged on to the system. Thesystem activates plug-ins for an agent in step 406. Then in step 408, itis determined whether an agent requires a text/voice plugin. If not.then according to step 410, the agent continues in the active dutystate. Other wise the plug-in for this agent is enabled in step 412.

In some embodiments, the automatic call distribution system has aplurality of agents and a plurality of plug-ins. Agents are then matchedand assigned to at least one plug-in. Of course, it is to be understoodthat not all agents need to be assigned to plug-ins in the system, andthat agents may be assigned to more than one plug-in. In a furtherembodiment, the plug-ins may be activated for a respective agent whenthe respective agent logs on to the system.

FIG. 5 depicts the elements of one embodiment. A function determinationmodule 502 determines for a plurality of agents 500 respective agentfunctions for respective agents. An assignment module 504 is operativelyconnected to the determination module 502. This assignment module 504assigns a respective agent function to a respective agent. Theassignment module 504 also stores the assigned agent functions in astorage or database 506. An activating module 508 is operativelyconnected to the storage or database 506 and retrieves a respectiveagent function from the database 506, and activates the respective agentfunction for a respective assigned agent in response to at least onepredetermined parameter (such as identification of text/voice, seeparameter 510) that occurs in the automatic call distribution system.

It is to be understood, of course, that the present invention in thevarious embodiments can be implemented in hardware, software, or incombinations of hardware and software.

The present invention is not limited to the particular details of theapparatus and method depicted, and other modifications and applicationsare contemplated. Certain other changes may be made in theabove-described apparatus and method without departing from the truespirit and scope of the invention herein involved. It is intended,therefore, that the subject matter in the above depiction shall beinterpreted as illustrative and not in a limiting sense.

1. A method of converting messages and responses between text messagesof a user at a first location and voice responses of at least one agentin an automatic contact distribution system at a second location havinga plurality of agents and a plurality of format conversion plug-ins,comprising: assigning a respective plug-in of the plurality of plug-insto respective selected agents of the plurality of agents and activatingthe respective plug-in in response to the respective selected agentlogging on; receiving a text message in a text format at the automaticcontact distribution system from the user at the first location via anetwork; assigning one of the selected agents to handle the text messageand enabling the plug-in assigned to the assigned selected agent inresponse to a determination that the plug-in is required; converting inthe enabled plug-in the text message from a text format to a voicemessage in a voice format; converting in the enabled plug-in a voiceresponse in the voice format from an agent to a text response in thetext format, the voice response being in response to the converted textmessage; and sending the text response from the second location to thefirst location via the network; wherein text is sent to and receivedfrom the user such that the user appears to the user to communicate withthe agent solely on a text basis, and wherein simultaneously, the agentappears to the agent to communicate with the user solely on a voicebasis in substantially real time.
 2. The method according to claim 1,wherein the user communicates with the agent on a web connection on atext basis, and the agent communicates with the user on a voice basis insubstantially real time without establishing a high bandwidth voicechannel.
 3. The method according to claim 1, wherein the network is atleast one of a local area network, a wide area network, and theInternet.
 4. The method according to claim 1, wherein the secondlocation is a communications system, and wherein the method furthercomprises: providing at least one plug-in pre-configured for arespective agent that implements text-to-voice and voice-to-textconversion in the communications system; assigning the at least onepreconfigured plug-in to the respective agent and enabling thepreconfigured plug-in for the respective agent when the respective agentbecomes available; and activating the at least one preconfigured plug-infor the agent when a text message is received at the communicationsystem.
 5. The method according to claim 4, wherein the communicationsystem has a plurality of agents and a plurality of preconfiguredplug-ins, and wherein the method further comprises determining for arespective agent of the plurality of agents at least one preconfiguredplug-in, which is assigned to the respective agent.
 6. The methodaccording to claim 5, wherein the method further comprises activatingthe preconfigured plug-in for the agent when the agent logs onto thecommunication system.
 7. The method according to claim 4, wherein thecommunication system is an automatic call distribution system.
 8. Amethod of converting messages and responses between text messages of auser at a first location and voice responses of an agent in an automaticcontact distribution system at a second location, comprising the stepsof: providing a plurality of agents and a plurality of format conversionplug-ins at the second location; assigning at least one respectiveformat conversion plug-in to each of respective agents of the pluralityof agents; receiving a text message in a text format at the secondlocation from the first location via a network; selecting the respectiveagent from the plurality of agents to respond to the text message;activating the respective format conversion plug-in for the respectiveagent; converting the text message from a text format to a voice messagein a voice format in the respective format conversion plug-in;converting a voice response in the voice format from an agent to a textresponse in the text format in the respective format conversion plug-in,the voice response being in response to the converted text message; andsending the text response from the second location to the first locationvia the network; wherein the user appears to the user to communicatewith the agent on a text basis, and wherein simultaneously the agentappears to the agent to communicate with the user on a voice basis. 9.The method according to claim 8, wherein the user communicates with theagent on a web connection on a text basis, and the agent communicateswith the user on a voice basis in substantially real time withoutestablishing a voice path.
 10. The method according to claim 8, whereinthe network is at least one of a local area network, a wide areanetwork, and the Internet.
 11. An apparatus for converting messages andresponses between text messages of a user at a first location and voiceresponses of at least one agent in an automatic contact distributionsystem at a second location having a plurality of agents and a pluralityof format conversion plug-ins, comprising: means for assigning arespective plug-in of the plurality of plug-ins to respective selectedagents of the plurality of agents; means for receiving a text message ina text format at the second location from the first location via anetwork; means for assigning one of the selected agents to handle thetext message; means for enabling the plug-in assigned to the assignedselected agent to convert the text message from a text format to a voicemessage in a voice format in real-time; means for enabling the plug-inassigned to the assigned selected agent to convert a voice response inthe voice format from the assigned selected agent to a text response inthe text format, the voice response being in response to the textmessage; and means for sending the text response from the secondlocation to the first location via the network; wherein the user appearsto the user to communicate with the agent solely on a text basis, andwherein the assigned selected agent appears to the agent to communicatewith the user solely on a voice basis in a pseudo-real-time connection.12. The apparatus according to claim 11, wherein the second location isa communication system, and wherein the method further comprisesproviding at least one plug-in that implements text-to-voice andvoice-to-text conversion in the communication system; assigning the atleast one plug-in to the agent; and activating the at least one plug-infor the agent when a text message is received at the communicationsystem.
 13. The apparatus according to claim 12, wherein thecommunication system has a plurality of agents and a plurality ofplug-ins, and wherein the method further comprises determining for arespective agent of the plurality of agents at least one plug-in, whichis assigned to the respective agent.
 14. The apparatus according toclaim 12, wherein the communication system is an automatic calldistribution system.
 15. The apparatus according to claim 11, whereinthe user communicates with the agent on a web connection on a textbasis, and the agent communicates with the user on a voice basis insubstantially real time without establishing a voice path.
 16. Theapparatus according to claim 11, wherein the network is at least one ofa local area network, a wide area network, and the Internet.